The 823rd Atherstone Ball Game took place in Warwickshire this afternoon (February 21). The last half an hour of the Pancake Day tradition saw punches thrown and a betting shop damaged as teams battled to gain control of an oversized ball. The winning team managed to secrete the ball in the doorway of bookmaker's 'William Hill'.

The match, which always takes place on Shrove Tuesday, dates back to medieval times and the two main rules are that you are not allowed to kill anyone, and that whoever holds the ball when time is up is declared the winner. The game honours a match played between Leicestershire and Warwickshire in 1199, when teams used a bag of gold as a ball. Shops in the town are boarded up in preparation for its staging, while local children are allowed to leave school early on that day. The two-hour game is played in the town's main street. The game has been labelled in the media as “the most brutal sport on Earth.”